In this hilarious romp, a daddy must call upon his stellar horsing-around abilities to guarantee a good time be had by all.
“Once there was a dad who was really good at playing horsey. Seriously, he was the best.” This first page of the book shows little brother and older sister perched on his back ready for adventure. One day, dad is outside practicing his jumps when a couple of sinister horse rustlers capture him. So begins the quest to find dad, rescue him and escape up north. Their journey takes them at a rapid pace to a rodeo, onto the tight rope in a circus tent, into the middle of a polo match, onto the racetrack during the Kentucky Derby and up the side of a Canadian mountain. During each part of their travels, Daddy makes sure to keep them safe since they are constantly just one step ahead of rustlers. With danger always lurking, the text has a lot of “but then”s spurring readers to quickly turn each page. Cummings dresses the thrilling tale with cartoony illustrations chock-full of zany details that kids will find appealing (but perhaps at times a bit frenetic). As one can guess, the kids save the day and their horsey daddy all in time for dinnertime at sunset.
For an unabashedly unsentimental laugh-out-loud tale that celebrates fathers’ loving, playful side—as well as their stamina—look no further. (Picture book. 3-7)
